A hard boiled egg is one of my favorite quick snacks, and having a cheerful red vintage Pyrex bowl of them sitting in the fridge is always a comforting sight. Having a bowl of this brightly colored egg salad sitting in the fridge always feels like a treat.

This is the perfect thing to have on hand during busy times like lambing season, when mealtimes can be erratic, and you never know how long a trip to the barn is going to take. A few bites of this filling and protein-packed egg salad atop a couple of crackers, and I'm ready to tackle anything.

This fun egg salad, which I've been making since 2007, is the favorite recipe of artist Red Grooms, who is known for his exuberant Pop Art renditions of urban life and whose 'playful constructions and paintings of hectic taxi cabs, crowded subways, and delightfully caricatured people offer truthful (if hilarious) insights into familiar experiences.'

The recipe notes say that it's a nice dish for a picnic or a children's party. What intrigued me is that the eggs are grated rather than chopped or sliced. This takes a little more time than using an egg slicer, but it gives the salad a completely different—and very nice—texture. I added the scallions and parsley for even more confetti color and flavor.

The original version simply calls for 'salami.' I usually use our homegrown lamb salami, which comes in a small chub and is what I call summer sausage because I grew up near San Francisco and the only type of salami I knew was hard Italian dry. I think any type of salami or summer sausage would do.

A digital kitchen scale is great for weighing ingredients like the salami (and postage!) and well worth the investment. I often use mine several times a day.

12 large hardboiled eggs, grated (I use the large holes on a stainless steel box grater)

1 can black olives (drained weight 6 ounces), drained and chopped

1 4-ounce jar chopped pimentos (scant 1/2 cup)

4 to 8 ounces salami, diced (about 1 to 2 scant cups)

6 scallions (green onions), chopped

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

3/4 to 1 cup mayonnaise(I'm a Hellman's girl)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, olives, pimentos, 4 ounces of the salami, scallions, and parsley. Stir in 3/4 cup of the mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the remaining 1/4 cup of mayonnaise and/or another 4 ounces of salami if desired.

Spread on crackers, use as a sandwich filling (perhaps on some freshly baked, easy to make Farmhouse White Bread?), or simply eat it straight out of a little dish with a spoon. It tastes even better if made ahead of time and allowed to chill for a couple of hours before serving.

11 comments:

As this photo appeared on my screen, at first I thought it was beautiful flowers in a garden! Then I realized it was some scrumptious looking food! Your photos are always beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

Beautiful! I wonder how it would taste with chard stems added? I'm knee deep in Bright Lights swiss chard and am looking for ways to use it up. The red, pink, and yellow stems would fit with theme of this dish.

Questions? Do you ever have trouble peeling fresh hard boiled eggs? I always do. I get my eggs from a co-worker who has his own chickens and whenever I hard boil them they are so hard to peel. Now I leave them in the back of the fridge when I know I want to hard boil them so they get a little older and easier to peel.

A few hens and a few ducks in the middle of a city have me eating A LOT of eggs, too. I started making my own mayonnaise. I can't believe how simple it is with the immersion blender, and the taste is SO much better than store bought. I'd be SUPER interested in the variations you come up with.

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

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